Client:

PR Company:

Award Category:

Award Type:

Call Number:

2005 H 3

Year:

2005

Executive Summary:

In February 2004, prominent Queensland grazier, philanthropist and scion of one of Australia’s oldest pastoral families, Margaret de Burgh Persse Hockey OAM, died after a long illness. This resulted in the sale, in May 2005, for the first time in more than a century of her family home, the historic “Nindooinbah”, at Beaudesert.

Margaret and her late husband, the flamboyant Sydney painter, Patrick Hockey, bequeathed “Nindooinbah” to Patrick’s nephew, Mudgee winemaker, Tim Stevens, who engaged Westbrook Communications to assist with communications and marketing advice around the sale of the property and its contents.

With Tim we sized up the critical elements of the campaign: it was a tough property market which meant a marketing campaign had to be far reaching but there was a limited budget for advertising. Consequently, the focus had to be on achieving and sustaining media coverage over a six week period, with key messages and news points doing extra duty in running campaign themes.

Our role in the “Selling Nindooinbah” campaign was as campaign director, offering advice, implementing the media campaign first hand and dealing with crisis management along the way.

We directed construction of a website which supported our key messages emphasising “Nindooinbah’s” uniqueness and targeted key journalists in a programmed sequence of news distribution with email and telephone follow-up.

Key achievements of the campaign were:

outstanding depth and breadth of feature media coverage across print and electronic media

sustaining this coverage in a managed way so that it was ongoing in the lead up to the property and contents auctions and beyond (five months in total)

crisis management around balancing the interests of heirs to the estate, community heritage activists and government heritage officials, all of whom had the potential to halt or derail the sale

creating “buzz” around an essentially provincial Qld story to attract the attention of high net worth buyers in Australia and internationally

significant collateral profile recognition for Stevens and his wine making activities in Mudgee without compromising the main selling campaign

Situation Analysis:

The following table represents the situation analysis in the form of the challenges we faced:

CHALLENGE

OUR INPUT

OverallDevise an integrated marketing communications campaign on a strictly limited budget to generate buyer interest in the first sale in 100 years of “Nindooinbah”, one of Australia’s most iconic country homesteads and grazing properties

Our communications program, “Selling Nindooinbah”, met all these challenges, exceeded expectations in terms of results and established a profile and sound communications footing for a successful auction of the property and a record sale of its contents.

Research:

Research we undertook to implement the program included:

internet and metropolitan newspaper files in Brisbane and Sydney to gain a thorough understanding of “Nindooinbah’s” history

liaison with social and political associates of the deceased owners

analysis of media coverage of the sale of properties with comparable heritage and cultural significance

meetings with all relevant stakeholders in the auction process – owners, auctioneers, solicitors, community groups and government officials

media databases to determine appropriate targets for briefings and distribution

· Part 2: potential purchasers­ high net worth individuals in Australia and overseas­ agribusiness investors­ fine arts and collectibles dealers and collectors­ high end rural estate agents and their clients

Maintain the momentum of the “Nindooinbah” communications strategy by generating ongoing media coverage from pre-sale to contents auction

Develop relationships with key journalists

Establish a media followers list from media visits to the site and coverage obtained

Maintain news flow via email news alerts

Facilitate site visits for journalists

Balance the interests of various stakeholders

Include key stakeholders in all communication strategy meetings to ensure a collegiate approach to the formulation of key messages

Manage all stakeholder concerns through open communication of our strategy

Collateral media coverage

Make reference to the winemaking business of Tim Stevens in all outgoing communication

Brief Stevens on how to incorporate “Abercorn” storyline into interviews without compromising main story line

Results:

Among measurable results were:

Media coverage generated sufficient momentum that it exceeded even the planned wish list, achieved unprecedented accuracy in reporting and extended more than five months from March 2005

Print media coverage including colour features in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Brisbane Courier Mail and The Australian Magazine

Extensive TV news coverage, feature material on ABC TV Countrywide and the Nine Network’s Queensland Extra Program and coverage on Queensland radio including Brisbane commercial stations and nationally on ABC Radio Country Hour

18 separate contracts issued prior to the auction to as far afield as London and Los Angeles, with 17 of the 18 interested parties actually attending the auction and bidding

More than 1,000 people attended the contents sale which achieved a 100 per cent clearance from more than 500 lots, the proceeds from which were more than double professional valuation estimates and set a new Australian record of $17,000 for a Patrick Hockey painting

Extensive collateral media coverage of Tim Stevens’ activities as a Mudgee winemaker including a colour feature in the Sun Herald, Sunday Life supplement

The local Zonta Club ran a food stall which raised enough from the single event to fund its entire Winter welfare program for the Beaudesert area

Evaluation:

Extensive media coverage across a broad spectrum of national mainstream news and property print media, Queensland local papers, television, radio and lifestyle media

Positive media coverage exceeding expected coverage

Outstanding depth and breadth of feature media coverage across print and electronic media

Interested buyers exceeded expectations

Flow-on media coverage reflected in record sale attendance results

Create momentum over an extended period

Perpetuation of key messages in the media creating sustained momentum of coverage over five months

High standard of presentation of the key messages by main spokesperson, Tim Stevens

Positive media coverage with well-timed targeted news releases and media alerts helping to keep the “Nindooinbah “story on the national media agenda

Articulate the unique historical, cultural and social significance of Nindooinbah

This significant point of difference was articulated in all media coverage primarily due to our communication strategy objective of positioning Nindooinbah as a cultural icon

Process assisted by enabling journalists to view and download photographs and background information from the “Nindooinbah” website

Manage modest budget

Through a well-time and strategically executed communications campaign, budget was adhered to with maximum results

All available resources employed to produce a quality campaign within a limited budget

OBJECTIVE

OUTCOMES

EVALUATION

Establish ongoing relationships with the media

By developing a media database and creating ongoing relationships with these journalists via email and telephone calls, we were able to develop a group of journalists who followed the Nindooinbah story from pre-auction through to the contents sale and beyond

The fostering of these relationships ensured favourable reporting in the media.

Balance the interests of various stakeholders

The potential to derail the auction was averted through a consensus approach to the communications strategy